Washington Nationals Need To Get Hot

By Gabe Isaacson

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY

Inter-league play has created a myriad of strange match-ups, but this weekend’s series is a scheduling success for the Washington Nationals. Coming off a home series against the New York Mets, they’ll host a weekend set against the Minnesota Twins. While the Twins are just a few games below .500, they’re due for substantial regression, as their true talent is indicative of a substantially lower winning percentage.

The Nationals have been straddling the .500 mark for a few weeks now, but they’re trending in the right direction. As Adam LaRoche begins to heat up and Danny Espinosa finally goes on the disabled list, the Nationals lineup is ready to heat up. Even with Bryce Harper on the disabled list, the Nationals could get going in this weekend series.

Friday, the Nationals will face Twins SP Kevin Correia. Correia is the epitome of a pitch-to-contact pitcher. The Nationals, while they have struggled to a low team OBP, should be patient and get great pitches to hit.

The Nationals are six games out of the second wild card spot in the National League, and they will need victories against teams like the Twins. Though many projected the Nationals for 100 wins in the preseason, they will need to play really good ball to get to 88-90 wins. Their aspirations were for a division title, rather than fighting their way into the one-game wild card playoff, but they’re the kind of team that could get hot and make a run deep into the postseason.

Gabe Isaacson is a writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter: @gabeisaacson.